Gunman is jailed after shots were fired in Birmingham
It happened near Villa Park after a Champions League match
A gunman has been jailed for more than eight years after shots were fired at a group of men fleeing from their car after it was rammed in Birmingham.
The violence unfolded when three men in a black VW Golf were driving on Trinity Road towards Birchfield Road at around 10.40pm on 2 October last year.
The area was busy as fans were leaving the area after Aston Villa’s Champions League fixture against Bayern Munich.
A Mitsubishi Shogun rammed the Golf into another car, and the three men in the Golf fled on foot towards Birchfield Road.
Kasim Ali, aged 24, of The Broadway, Handsworth, was one of four men who jumped out of the Shogun.
He used the handle of a Rambo knife to smash the Golf’s windscreen, while another man fired a gun at the victims as they fled up Trinity Road.
The bullet ricocheted off the Golf’s swinging car door, missing the victims. The man then fires again into the victim’s now empty car.
Ali fled the country shortly after the shooting, but forensic tests linked him to the scene and he was arrested when he returned to the UK.
He admitted possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, and was jailed for eight years and four months at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday.
The motive for the attack remains unknown, and enquiries continue to identify the three other men from the Shogun, including the gunman.
Ali’s conviction is part of Operation Target – which sees us work 24/7 to tackle serious and organised crime across the West Midlands.